The present invention relates to color-tailorable polymeric optical bodies and products made therefrom. More particularly, the present invention relates to color-tailorable pigmented polymeric optical bodies made of polyester with surface metalization.
Tinted polymeric films, and particularly tinted polymeric films made of polyester, find utility in a broad range of applications. These films, for example, can be applied to a base transparent substrate (e.g., a window or auto glass pane) to provide neutral (gray) or colored tint to the window or auto glass. They can also be used to tint the surface of a display device, mirror, or other piece of optical equipment.
One method for tinting a polymeric base film employs dyeing the base film with one or more color dyes. Typically in such methods, the neutral or colored tint is obtained by imbibing (or blending) the base film material with a combination of yellow, red, and blue dyes. While these dyed films generally retain high clarity and low haze, prolonged exposure to ultraviolet radiation (which occurs naturally during outdoor use or by exposure to fluorescent light or other UV-emitting light source) can cause significant degradation of the dye molecules and lead to tinting color alteration, tinting power deterioration, bleaching, and reduced light transmission.
Another method sometimes employed for tinting a polymeric film is to apply a pigmented coating to the surface of a base polymeric film. Generally, such coatings are applied as thin layers and employ a relatively high pigment concentration to achieve a desired tint level. These highly-concentrated pigment coatings can suffer numerous processing and performance drawbacks. For example, the high pigment concentrations necessary to achieve requisite tinting strengths are difficult to uniformly disperse within the thin coating, and these high surface pigment concentrations generally suffer faster environmental deterioration. Moreover, such pigmented coatings typically suffer greater haze and reduced clarity.
Yet another method for tinting a polymeric base film employs surface metalization. Polymer films are evenly coated with a metallic layer to provide tinting in applications that require a higher degree of weatherability, such as solar control and commercial glass. Although traditional surface metalization techniques improve environmental stability (i.e. color-stability or colorfastness) of the tinted films, optical properties such as color, transmission, reflectivity, and absorption are constrained to the optical properties of the specific metals and the thickness of the metallic layer. Because of these constraints, applications are limited depending upon the type of metals used.
There exists, therefore, a need for a film that provides the benefits of surface metalization, while still permitting optical properties such as color, transmission, reflectivity, and absorption to be tailored to the specific application.
Briefly, in one aspect, the present invention provides a color-tailorable, surface-metalized pigmented optical body comprising a single or multiple layer polymeric core. The polymeric core comprises at least one layer of a thermoplastic polymer material having dispersed therein a particulate pigment, and a metallic layer is located on at least one outer surface of the polymeric core.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a color-tailorable, surface-metalized pigmented optical body comprising a single or single or multiple layer polymeric core comprising at least one layer of a thermoplastic polymer material having dispersed therein a particulate pigment, and a metallic layer located on at least one outer surface of the polymeric core. The metallic layer has L*m, a*m, and b*m, color scales, the polymeric core has L*p, a*p, and b*p color scales, and at least one of the L*m, a*m, and b*m values differs from the corresponding L*p, a*p, and b*p values within the visible spectrum.
In another aspect, the invention provides a color-tailorable, surface-metalized pigmented optical body comprising a single or multiple layer polymeric core comprising at least one layer of a thermoplastic polymer material having dispersed therein a particulate pigment, and a metallic layer located on at least one outer surface of the polymeric core. The transmission spectrum of the metallic layer differs from the transmission spectrum of the polymeric core within the visible spectrum.
In yet another aspect, the invention provides a color-tailorable, surface-metalized, pigmented optical body comprising a single or multiple layer polymeric core comprising at least one layer of a thermoplastic polymer material having dispersed therein a particulate pigment, and a metallic layer located on at least one outer surface of the polymeric core. The transmission spectrum of the optical body differs from the transmission spectrum of both the metallic layer and the polymeric core within the visible spectrum.
In still another aspect, the invention provides a color-tailorable, surface-metalized pigmented optical body comprising a single or multiple layer polymeric core, comprising at least one layer of a thermoplastic polymer material having dispersed therein a particulate pigment, and a metallic layer located on at least one outer surface of the polymeric core. The color scales of the optical body are L*o, a*o, and b*o and the a*o, and b*o values range from about xe2x88x925 to about 5 within the visible spectrum.
The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each illustrated embodiment or every implementation of the present invention. The detailed description and figures which follow more particularly exemplify these embodiments.